If you didn't catch the May 31st episode of Real Sports with Bryant Gumble on HBO last night, you missed one of the entertaining segments of television ever to fill the airways. It seems there is this horse, Storm Cat, proudly owned by Overbrook Farms in the Olympus of thoroughbred racing, Kentucky. When Storm Cat was born, there were great hopes for his racing success as his bloodlines could be traced through many of the greats of racing history including the legendary Secretariat.
Unfortunately, Storm Cat proved to be a mediocre race horse. He won a few, he lost a few more. He made a couple hundred thousand and then was retired to stud. A common story you say? Lucky he is not dog food, you demure? Ah, but this is where the story really begins.
Initially, the asking price for Storm Cat to "cover" (see, I learned some racing terms, educational TV and all that) was $25,000 for the subsequent birth of a live colt. If Storm Cat fathered a live colt by the mare, regardless of whether the colt had 6 legs or 4, the fee was $25,000. There were so few takers, Overbrook Farms dropped the fee. They started asking $20,000 and started having a few takers. I mean, for Heaven's sake, the gene pool is the thing, right?
Strange things started to happen in the sand and clover of race tracks around the country. The kiddies sired by Storm Cat started winning - and winning big! Generation after generation of Storm Cat's colts have run roughshod over the horse racing world. To date, according to Real Sports, colts fathered by Storm Cat have won $90 million at the tracks of the world! They should change his name to "Daddy Warbucks!"
Now the fee for having your mare have a date, not with Tad Hamilton, but with Storm Cat is the highest in the horse racing industry - $500,000 per live colt. That's a 125,000 bucks per hoof - assuming you get a four-legged colt. The closest rival for breeding rights is a sire that can ask for - well his pimp can ask for it - a paltry $200,000 per live colt. While that ain't hay, no one is in Storm Cat's stall, playa!
Article comments
1 - RJ
Keep tall, fat chicks wearing dresses away from that horse!
It's not a pretty mount! :-/
2 - Temple Stark
And not a pretty statement RJ. Talk about a buzzkill.
Good piece DD.
3 - dietdoc
While I didn't express the humor very well, I have not laughed that hard in some time. Thanks, Temple, for the read.
I guess you had to see it to appreciate the hilarity of it all.
(grin)
Cheers,
Ron